By Kali Silverman

Here is the written up summary of Parashat Vayechi and here is my written up summary, taken notes-style.

This may not be a traditional D’var Torah (mostly because I’m simultaneously running Winter Seminar), so I have many thoughts, and here are a few:

Many times, in Jewish tradition, we learn and discuss names and their meaning, and the process of giving names meaning. Try this: What is your given name? What is the name you like to be called? What does your name mean to you? What is the name you’re most proud of?

For me, my given name is Kali Rifkin Silverman. I like to be called a friend, a madricha, a leader, and "boo" (semi-kidding). To me, my name is unique, it sparks a conversation, and it shows strength in that Kali is the Indian Goddess of Destruction of Evil (it also means Peaceful and Serene). I am most proud of being called Mazkira Klalit of HDNA. I am also incredibly proud to be a member of my family and have both Rifkin and Silverman (both of my parents’ last names) as my names.

We are very quick to label things. Our society has names for everything. But what does it actually mean? Does something without a name (a newborn baby, a new invention, a piece of art) have less or different meaning? Would we be the same if we weren't as tied to our names?

How does it affect us to be named Habonim Dror -- The Builders of Freedom? Those are some pretty big shoes to fill.

What does it mean to be given a prophecy? How much of Jacob’s sons’ lives were predetermined? Who were they more than their titles, and how did their prophecies affect them? Now, I don’t know much about the twelve tribes (I’m not sure how much anyone does), but there has to be something significant about these prophecies.

(In honor of the secular New Year) How do we set prophecies for ourselves? As the tradition goes, we set New Years Resolutions for ourselves, and many times they’re a joke, right? Do we set ourselves up to fail? Is that bad? How can we prophesize for ourselves, constructively? And how can we follow through with it?

And how did these prophecies show Jacob’s and the Jewish people’s priorities? At Winter Seminar, the theme is Activism and Tikkun Olam. We’ve been talking about priorities, both personal and collective. How have we prioritized our values in our movement? How significant is it that Jacob prioritized scholars, schoolteachers, priests, and judges, leaders, legislators, and kings as members of society? How significant is it that Jacob prioritized soldiers, seafarers, and olive growers as the tribes of Israel – as the future of the Jewish people? What does it mean to us now that these tribes were prophesized and prioritized and named?

And how do you feel about a father (or parent/guardian) predetermining a child’s life and the future of their descendants? I know the Torah was written and handed down in a very different time, but how can this apply to us? How many of us were told who we could and couldn’t be as children? How many of us overcame that? How many of us are still struggling with that? How does our movement, and most specifically our hadracha styles, ideologies, and systems, combat that? Are we giving children a chance to be who they want to be?

(This might be a little out-of-left-field) The other aspect I want to bring up is the concept of post-mortem Aliyah (I might have made this term up). I know this may seem silly, but if we haven’t achieved the goals we've set out to achieve, if we are still striving for greatness up until

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